Clinical and Therapeutic Implications of Fibrosis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Clinical and Therapeutic Implications of Fibrosis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00879060
• Other study ID #: K23HL086745-01A1
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Start date: November 2007
• Est. completion date: November 2012

Study information

• Verified date: March 2021
• Source: Tufts Medical Center
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic cardiomyopathy and remains the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and an important cause of heart failure symptoms and death at any age. In HCM, pathological remodeling of the left ventricle involving myocardial fibrosis is likely a major contributor to cardiac dysfunction and also a nidus for the generation of ventricular arrhythmias. Serum markers of collagen turnover have been shown to reliably reflect the magnitude of myocardial fibrosis in a variety of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, aldosterone antagonist drugs have been shown to decrease fibrous tissue formation in the myocardium in certain pathologic cardiovascular states in which aldosterone production is increased. In HCM, aldosterone production is up-regulated and has been implicated in the formation of myocardial fibrosis.

Therefore, the specific aims of this proposal are to:

1. assess serum markers of collagen turnover at baseline and correlate these findings with a variety of clinical and morphologic disease parameters

2. examine the effects of a 12-month treatment with the aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on magnitude of fibrosis as measured by serum markers of collagen turnover as well as changes in clinical and morphologic disease parameters.

3. explore the effects of a 12-month treatment with aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on heart failure status, diastolic function, arrhythmic burden, and total LV mass and quantity of fibrosis by CMR.

The results of this proposal will offer important insights into the clinical significance of myocardial fibrosis in this primary genetic cardiomyopathy. The demonstration that spironolactone decreases fibrosis and improves clinical course would provide the rational for a larger multicenter clinical trial evaluating this novel therapy for improving clinical outcome in patients with HCM.

Description:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited cardiac disease in the general population. Myocardial fibrosis has become a prominent and clinically relevant pathophysiologic component of this complex genetic disease, related to the risk for both sudden death and heart failure. For example, left ventricular replacement fibrosis and scarring has been implicated in triggering life threatening ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation and most recently has become a novel risk marker for sudden death, based on in vivo demonstration of extensive late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) with cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Extensive LGE identifies patients who benefit from primary prevention of sudden death with the implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD), or who evolve to the end-stage of this disease with systolic dysfunction and consideration for heart transplant.

The mineralocorticoid aldosterone has been shown to be a mediator of myocardial fibrosis, and blockade with spironolactone normalizes collagen content in HCM murine models. In addition, aldosterone antagonists have favorable clinical effects in patients with a variety of diseases associated with myocardial scarring such as congestive heart failure, systemic hypertension, and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. However, it is uncertain whether spironolactone would have similar effects on the clinical and phenotypic expression of a genetic disease such as HCM. Therefore, we investigated whether mineralocorticoid receptor blockade with spironolactone would reduce measures reflecting myocardial fibrosis, producing favorable LV remodeling and ultimately leading to positive clinical effects for patients with HCM.

The general aim of this study is to explore the role of fibrosis in HCM by testing the hypothesis that: the presence of magnitude of myocardial fibrosis bears clinical relevance for patients with HCM, and that mineralocorticoid receptor blockade will reduce myocardial fibrosis and thereby alter the natural history of the disease.

Experimental design: prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in a consecutive HCM population at a single clinical center (Tufts Medical Center HCM Institution).

Study procedures: HCM patients were recruited from Tufts Medical Center HCM Institution population from November 2007 to June 2009. Enrolled patients were randomized into two arms; treatment arm received 25mg at the start of study and then increased to target dose of 50mg if serum potassium was <5.5mmol/L and serum creatinine-baseline creatinine was <0.5mg/dl. This arm was then followed for 12 months. The control arm of the study received 25mg of placebo over 12 months. There was an additional control arm of age and gender-matched controls without HCM in the control arm to evaluate the serum markers of collagen turnover at baseline. These controls had a one time blood draw of 15mL (3 teaspoons) to assess serum biomarkers of interest and were not be followed for 12 months.

Specific outcome measures:

Primary Outcome: examine the effects of a 12-month treatment with the aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on magnitude of fibrosis as measured by serum markers of collagen turnover as well as changes in clinical and morphologic disease parameters.

Secondary Outcomes: explore the effects of a 12-month treatment with aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on heart failure status, diastolic function, arrhythmic burden, and total LV mass and quantity of fibrosis by CMR.

Secondary Outcome: assess serum markers of collagen turnover at baseline and correlate these findings with a variety of clinical and morphologic disease parameters

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 53
• Est. completion date: November 2012
• Est. primary completion date: November 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 70 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

2. Able to swallow pills

3. No prior septal reduction therapy

4. Negative serum or hCG pregnancy test

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unable or unwilling to perform treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise test

2. Prior surgical myectomy or alcohol septal ablation

3. Known or suspected infiltrative or glycogen storage disease

4. Significant coronary artery disease, defined as atherosclerotic coronary artery narrowing >70% of the luminal diameter by coronary angiography

5. Severe obstructive pulmonary disease, defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) <50% of predicted.

6. Prior intolerance or adverse reaction to aldosterone receptor antagonist.

7. History of hyper or hypoaldosteronism

8. Baseline serum potassium >5.0 mmol/L.

9. Calculated creatinine clearance <30 ml/min using Cockcroft-Gault formula.

10. Pregnant or breast feeding

11. Poorly controlled systemic hypertension, defined as systolic blood pressure =150 mmHg or diastolic pressure =100 mmHg, during 2 clinic visits.

12. Known conditions associated with elevated serum concentrations of PIIINP (e.g., chronic liver disease, diabetes mellitus, tumors, pulmonary fibrosis, bone and rheumatoid diseases, extensive wounds) or PINP (e.g., alcoholic liver disease, metabolic bone disease, thyroid disorders), including recent trauma (=2 weeks) or surgery (=6 months)

13. Taking drugs known to directly influence collagen metabolism including, amiodorone, ACE or angiotensin II inhibitors, aldosterone antagonists, statins, glucocorticoids and estrogens

14. Patients with ICDs/pacemakers will be recruited in the study, but will be excluded from the CMR component.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Cardiomyopathies
• Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic
• Fibrosis
• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
• Hypertrophy
• Myocardial Fibrosis

Intervention

Drug:
• Spironolactone
spironolactone 50mg daily
• Placebo
inactive placebo pill daily

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Tufts Medical Center	Boston	Massachusetts

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Tufts Medical Center

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (13)

Braunwald E, Domanski MJ, Fowler SE, Geller NL, Gersh BJ, Hsia J, Pfeffer MA, Rice MM, Rosenberg YD, Rouleau JL; PEACE Trial Investigators. Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibition in stable coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 2004 Nov 11;351(20):2058-68. Epub 2004 Nov 7. — View Citation

Chan RH, Maron BJ, Olivotto I, Pencina MJ, Assenza GE, Haas T, Lesser JR, Gruner C, Crean AM, Rakowski H, Udelson JE, Rowin E, Lombardi M, Cecchi F, Tomberli B, Spirito P, Formisano F, Biagini E, Rapezzi C, De Cecco CN, Autore C, Cook EF, Hong SN, Gibson CM, Manning WJ, Appelbaum E, Maron MS. Prognostic value of quantitative contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the evaluation of sudden death risk in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2014 Aug 5;130(6):484-95. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.007094. — View Citation

Lim DS, Lutucuta S, Bachireddy P, Youker K, Evans A, Entman M, Roberts R, Marian AJ. Angiotensin II blockade reverses myocardial fibrosis in a transgenic mouse model of human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2001 Feb 13;103(6):789-91. — View Citation

Maron BJ, Ommen SR, Semsarian C, Spirito P, Olivotto I, Maron MS. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: present and future, with translation into contemporary cardiovascular medicine. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014 Jul 8;64(1):83-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.05.003. Review. Erratum in: J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014 Sep 16;64(11):1188. — View Citation

Pfeffer MA, Claggett B, Assmann SF, Boineau R, Anand IS, Clausell N, Desai AS, Diaz R, Fleg JL, Gordeev I, Heitner JF, Lewis EF, O'Meara E, Rouleau JL, Probstfield JL, Shaburishvili T, Shah SJ, Solomon SD, Sweitzer NK, McKinlay SM, Pitt B. Regional variation in patients and outcomes in the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial. Circulation. 2015 Jan 6;131(1):34-42. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.013255. Epub 2014 Nov 18. — View Citation

Pfeffer MA, Pitt B, McKinlay SM. Spironolactone for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2014 Jul 10;371(2):181-2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1405715. — View Citation

Pitt B, Reichek N, Willenbrock R, Zannad F, Phillips RA, Roniker B, Kleiman J, Krause S, Burns D, Williams GH. Effects of eplerenone, enalapril, and eplerenone/enalapril in patients with essential hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy: the 4E-left ventricular hypertrophy study. Circulation. 2003 Oct 14;108(15):1831-8. Epub 2003 Sep 29. — View Citation

Pitt B, Remme W, Zannad F, Neaton J, Martinez F, Roniker B, Bittman R, Hurley S, Kleiman J, Gatlin M; Eplerenone Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival Study Investigators. Eplerenone, a selective aldosterone blocker, in patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2003 Apr 3;348(14):1309-21. Epub 2003 Mar 31. Erratum in: N Engl J Med. 2003 May 29;348(22):2271. — View Citation

Querejeta R, López B, González A, Sánchez E, Larman M, Martínez Ubago JL, Díez J. Increased collagen type I synthesis in patients with heart failure of hypertensive origin: relation to myocardial fibrosis. Circulation. 2004 Sep 7;110(10):1263-8. Epub 2004 Aug 16. — View Citation

Shirani J, Pick R, Roberts WC, Maron BJ. Morphology and significance of the left ventricular collagen network in young patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2000 Jan;35(1):36-44. — View Citation

Tsybouleva N, Zhang L, Chen S, Patel R, Lutucuta S, Nemoto S, DeFreitas G, Entman M, Carabello BA, Roberts R, Marian AJ. Aldosterone, through novel signaling proteins, is a fundamental molecular bridge between the genetic defect and the cardiac phenotype of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2004 Mar 16;109(10):1284-91. Epub 2004 Mar 1. — View Citation

Weng Z, Yao J, Chan RH, He J, Yang X, Zhou Y, He Y. Prognostic Value of LGE-CMR in HCM: A Meta-Analysis. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2016 Dec;9(12):1392-1402. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2016.02.031. Epub 2016 Jul 20. Review. — View Citation

Zannad F, Alla F, Dousset B, Perez A, Pitt B. Limitation of excessive extracellular matrix turnover may contribute to survival benefit of spironolactone therapy in patients with congestive heart failure: insights from the randomized aldactone evaluation study (RALES). Rales Investigators. Circulation. 2000 Nov 28;102(22):2700-6. Erratum in: Circulation 2001 Jan 23;103(3):476. — View Citation

* Note: There are 13 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Absolute Change in Serum Markers of Collagen Turnover (Micrograms/L) Over a One-year Follow-up Period in the Spironolactone Group Compared to Placebo.	Specific variables of collagen turnover markers that will be evaluated include markers of collagen synthesis (PINP, PIIINP), and marker of collagen degradation (ICTP). A two-sample t-test was used to compare the differences between these collagen turnover markers at baseline and the absolute differences in change from baseline to 12 months of follow-up.	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up).
Secondary	Measure of Functional Capacity: Peak Oxygen Consumption With Exercise	This data was collected at baseline, prior to drug administration, and again at 12-months of follow-up to determine if spironolactone improves a subject's functional capacity during exercise (peak oxygen consumption levels/peak VO2). Peak VO2 levels were measured in ml/kg/min.	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up).
Secondary	Measure of Heart Failure Symptoms According to the New York Heart Association Functional Class	This data was collected at baseline, prior to drug administration, and again at 12-months of follow-up to assess heart failure symptoms according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, which is an estimate of a patients functional ability. The NYHA functional classes include: Class I (no limitation of physical activity), Class II (slight limitation of physical activity), Class III (marked limitation of physical activity), and Class IV (unable to carry out any physical acitivity without discomfort).	Time points were measured at Baseline and again at 12 months (follow-up)
Secondary	Measure of Indices of Diastolic Function by Tissue Doppler Echocardiography (Septal E/e')	This data was collected at baseline, prior to drug administration, and again at 12-months of follow-up to measure indices of diastolic function by Tissue Doppler Echocardiography using the Septal E/e' ratio.	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up).
Secondary	Assessment of Cardiac Mass and Fibrosis by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) - Percentage of Left Ventricular Mass (%LV)	CMR will be utilized as it has superior reproducibility (as compared to 2-D echocardiography). Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) Assessment of myocardial fibrosis by CMR will be expressed as a percentage of left ventricular mass (%LV), maximum left ventricular wall thickness (in mm), left ventricular end-diastolic cavity size (in mm/m^2), and left atrial dimension (in mm).	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up).
Secondary	Assessment of Cardiac Mass and Fibrosis by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) - Maximum Left Ventricular Wall Thickness (in mm)	CMR will be utilized as it has superior reproducibility (as compared to 2-D echocardiography). Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) Assessment of myocardial fibrosis by CMR will be expressed as a percentage of left ventricular mass (%LV), maximum left ventricular wall thickness (in mm), left ventricular end-diastolic cavity size (in mm/m^2), and left atrial dimension (in mm).	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up).
Secondary	Assessment of Cardiac Mass and Fibrosis by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) - Left Ventricular End-Diastolic (LVED) Cavity Size (in mm/m^2)	CMR will be utilized as it has superior reproducibility (as compared to 2-D echocardiography). Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) Assessment of myocardial fibrosis by CMR will be expressed as a percentage of left ventricular mass (%LV), maximum left ventricular wall thickness (in mm), left ventricular end-diastolic (LVED) cavity size (in mm/m^2), and left atrial dimension (in mm).	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up)
Secondary	Assessment of Cardiac Mass and Fibrosis by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) - Left Atrial Dimension (in mm)	CMR will be utilized as it has superior reproducibility (as compared to 2-D echocardiography). Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) Assessment of myocardial fibrosis by CMR will be expressed as a percentage of left ventricular mass (%LV), maximum left ventricular wall thickness (in mm), left ventricular end-diastolic cavity size (in mm/m^2), and left atrial dimension (in mm).	The time points measured were at Baseline and at 12 Months (Follow-Up)